Duke Basketball: Former Player Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame

Richard “Dick” Groat, a former Duke player, whose jersey was the first to be retired at Cameron Indoor stadium was inducted into the college Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

The 80-year-old is a 6’0" guard who once laid 48 points on North Carolina in 1952 and finished all three seasons at Duke with an average of 22 points per game. Freshmen were not allowed to play back then.

He was a two-time All-American in basketball, second-team All-America in 1951 and first team in 1952 where he was crowned Duke's first National Player of the Year.

Groat was inducted into the National College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

"I don't know whether I deserved this but I did feel I deserved to get into the College Basketball Hall of Fame," said Groat. "I'm just thrilled to death to be inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Groat was drafted by the Fort Wayne Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons) third overall in 1952. He averaged 11.9 points and 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.

He only played 26 games as he left to enlist in the army.

After serving two years in the army, Groat gave up basketball but went back to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates who had signed him just days after graduating from Duke.

He was an MLB All-Star five times and was MVP in 1960.

Groat was the highest drafted Duke guard until Jason Williams was chosen second in the 2002 NBA draft.

Kyrie Irving surpassed everyone when he was chosen first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2011 draft.

Groat has been a part of Pittsburgh college basketball radio broadcasting team since 1979.

Incidentally, Groat reminds me of the lead character in 1952 book, The Natural, which was later made into a film starring Robert Redford.

It was about a guy that was born to play baseball though some tragic events would postpone his debut on the national stage until later in life.

In Groat’s case he was born to play sports. Not many guys barely 6’0" dominated basketball in the early days of basketball when it was literally dominated by giants!

He then went on to make a name for himself in baseball. To put this in perspective, Michael Jordan bombed as a baseball player in 1994.